[Study of vertical transmission of coxsackie group enteroviruses in the etiology of congenital immunodeficiencies].

Morphological and virological studies were carried out in 26 cases of perinatal and neonatal deaths in a group at a high risk of vertical transmission of Coxsackie viruses. Antigens of Coxsackie viruses A and B were identified in 73.1% of autopsy materials, including the thymus. Adenovirus and rubella virus antigens were detected much more rarely: in 26.9 and 30.8% of cases. The incidence of Coxsackie viruses was minimal (50%) in cases when thymic abnormalities were confined to the initial signs of preterm involution and reliably increased if the involution was more expressed in the presence of underdeveloped thymus, reaching 100% in cases with the terminal stage of preterm involution in the presence of marked immaturity. The data confirm the hypothesis about the principal role of Coxsackie virus in the etiology of secondary congenital immunodeficiencies detected in children at a high risk of vertical transmission of these viruses.